Attorney general responds to crossbench calls for inquiry. All the day’s events, live
If Christian Porter is writing these dixers, it is just indicative of how busy he is, because OMG it might just be easier to put a microphone on the prime minister when he delivers his joint party room rah rah, then put up with this.
Put it in a press release. Let backbenchers ask questions that actually matter to their communities.
Chris Bowen to Greg Hunt:
Can the minister confirm that sound radiology the Adelaide is situated within 5km of 9 other MRI machines with existing MRI Medicare licences?
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Guardian World News
Trump renews attack on Baltimore congressman Elijah Cummings – live
- Trump on Twitter goes after Cummings and Al Sharpton
- Director of national intelligence Dan Coats to leave post
- Sign up for the US briefing and get a new perspective
Trump’s comments this morning to 9/11 first responders that he “spent a lot time” at Ground Zero are raising serious doubts.
A New York Times reporter who spent years covering the fallout of the attacks for the New York Post tweeted this:
So, I covered rebuilding at the WTC for three years after covering the immediate aftermath of the attacks for NYPost. Giuliani was a frequent presence w families, as was Pataki. I recall one instance where Trump was at the site. https://t.co/7Ish98CX1g
Trump’s reference to ‘7/11’ was a slip of the lip. News accounts from days just after 9/11 include references to Trump giving high-fives to police officers and volunteers on their way to the World Trade Center site. ‘I have a lot of men working down here. I want to make sure they’re OK,’ he said. Trump said his employers were cleaning and digging out, but declined to say where they were working.
Joe Biden’s campaign has released its own blistering criticism of Kamala Harris’ health care plan.
A statement from Biden’s campaign accuses the California senator of having “released a health care plan that both backtracks on her long-promised – but then-hedged – support of Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All legislation while at the same time committing to still unraveling the hard-won Affordable Care Act that the Trump Administration is trying to undo right now.”
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Trump defends ‘excellent’ labor secretary amid scrutiny over Epstein plea deal – live
Donald Trump ignores calls for Alexander Acosta to resign over role in securing a lenient 2008 plea deal for financier Jeffrey Epstein
It’s been quite a heavy day, so here’s a small dose of fun:
Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm, tested how Donald Trump would fare against US soccer star Megan Rapinoe in a 2020 matchup.
Barack Obama’s healthcare law is once again in jeopardy, as a federal appeals court on Tuesday hears arguments on its validity.
The case, which could once again place the fate of the Affordable Care Act before the supreme court, was brought by a group of Republican governors and attorneys general.
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California to offer healthcare to young working poor living illegally in US
State will become first to give Medicaid access to illegal residents, in defiance of Trump policies
California will become the first state in the US to pay for some adults living in the country illegally to have full health benefits as the solidly liberal state continues to distance itself from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Democrats in the state legislature reached an agreement on Sunday afternoon as part of a broader plan to spend $213bn of state and federal tax money over the next year. The agreement means low-income adults between the ages of 19 and 25 living in California illegally would be eligible for California’s Medicaid program, the joint state and federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled.
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Former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke dies aged 89 – rolling coverage
Hawke, the longest serving Labor prime minister who remained a popular public figure, has passed away
Bob Hawke, Australia’s longest serving Labor prime minister and widely seen as a popular ‘larrikin’ figure even into his old age, has passed away.
Hawke led the Labor party to victory in four consecutive elections from 1983, leading a transformative period in Australia during which the government established Medicare, Landcare, and superannuation schemes, deregulated the financial industry and floated the Australian dollar. He set up the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, and investigated but never managed a treaty with Indigenous Australia.
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Federal election 2019: Tony Abbott labels Labor’s climate policy ‘socialism’ – politics live
Former PM burnishes his conservationist credentials – but says opposition measures risk damaging the economy. Follow all the updates, live
Tanya Plibersek came in at the end of Labor’s press conference, after there were no questions on Jessica Whelan, the candidate Scott Morrison was referring to there, when he was talking about posts being referred to the AFP (she claims they are fake)
Plibersek:
Hunt and King have closed the press club debate on health, with Hunt finishing where he started, on medicine affordability.
Medicines can only be made affordable and health services expanded when the economy is strong, he says. Meanwhile, King closes by reiterating Labor’s $7.5bn package to improve hospitals and cancer care, and by saying Labor will stop cuts to Medicare.
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Shorten pledges billions for seniors’ dental bills, childcare and educators’ wage rise
Labor leader vows to ‘build Medicare’ as Scott Morrison announces plan to freeze refugee intake
Bill Shorten has unveiled three big-spending policies to invest $2.4bn in seniors’ dental care, $4bn to provide cheaper childcare for families and to boost early childhood educators’ pay by 20%.
Shorten made the promises that Labor will “build Medicare” and expand social services to win the 2019 election on a positive platform of “hope over fear, vision over cynicism” at a quasi campaign launch at the Box Hill Town Hall in Melbourne on Sunday.
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Bill Shorten pledges $2.3bn cancer care package in Labor budget reply – video
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, delivered his budget reply at Canberra’s Parliament House on Thursday. He characterised the cancer package as ‘the most important investment in Medicare since Bob Hawke created it’
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Bill Shorten’s budget 2019 reply speech: Labor makes party’s case for government – as it happened
Labor leader gives party’s reply to the federal budget as seats tighten before Australian election campaign
That is it for the evening folks.
It has been a big week and many thanks for staying with us. Thanks to Mike Bowers for his sterling pitchers, as well as the brains trust: Katharine Murphy and Paul Karp. Amy Remeikis is a trooper, I have just surfed in for the night.
Some quick analytical thoughts on Bill Shorten's de-facto campaign launch tonight. Direct appeals to the base, to women and young people. Many connection points, from tax relief for workers who haven't got wage rises, the return of lost penalty rates, to the cancer package.
The cancer pledge connects with so many people, speaks to their lived experience. It will make disillusioned voters sit up and take notice. It was unclear until tonight how Labor would recalibrate on Medicare. Now we have a sense of how that services campaign will be structured.
Shorten was confident tonight, as was the team sitting behind him. Labor is selling a team to voters, not a presidential leader. It's also framing a positive campaign, in the process projecting itself as the incumbents, daring the government to go negative.
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Coalition gives budget boost to aged care and Medicare services before election
Morrison government to fund additional 10,000 packages to help older people remain at home rather than enter aged care homes
• Federal budget 2019: follow the speech and reaction, live
• Morrison splashes the cash in final election sell to the suburbs
• Comment: Morrison breaks with past budgets to save his skinScott Morrison’s government has made a pitch for the votes of families and older Australians with new spending in aged care and a promise to make Medicare more affordable and services more accessible.
The centrepiece of the spending in aged care is an additional 10,000 home care packages to help older people remain at home rather than enter aged care facilities, taking the number of packages to 40,000.
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